Gov. Cony letter about hospital conditions, Augusta, 1864

Governor Samuel Cony wrote to Benjamin H. Hinds, the agent of the Maine Agency Sanitary Commission in October 1864 asking him to inform the "proper department" about the conditions at Point Lookout Hospital and the treatment of Maine soldiers there.

Cony wrote that he had seen men in hospitals "whose only clothing was a cotton shirt & drawers no shoes or stockings." He added that "if such things are tolerated in our Hospital they may occur in another -- such a state of affairs should not be allowed to exist at all."

He suggested that the soldiers might be transferred to a different facility.

Point Lookout Hospital in Maryland housed soldiers who had been injured at the Battle of Gettysburg in July 1863.